Living With Lily
by Mortal But Happy
Summary: A story about James going to live with Lily for the summer before their seventh year at Hogwarts. I noticed a few stories with Lily going to live with James, but nothing the other way round, and so this was born!
1. The Ministry

Living With Lily

Prologue: The Ministry

As I enter the visitors entrance of the Ministry Of Magic, I wonder what fate has in store for me now. Do I get to live on my own, or will I be put with another wizarding family? All sorts of questions are running through my head as I walk, and I can feel the butterflies in my stomach. This is the day, today, my life could change for the better, or for the worse.

I'm here-two weeks in to the summer holidays- at the office for The Protection Of Vulnerable Families. Its part of the Auror Office, and my father's the one in charge. My name is James Potter, and Father has decided that until I'm of age, I should go stay somewhere other than the Potter Mansion, because he's a high profile figure in the wizarding world, and I could be in danger if the Death Eaters attacked. Of course, Sirius and I have already decided that we're staying at home if we don't like where Father is going to send us, dysfunctional family in the middle of a breakdown be damned. This is the main reason Father has been spending so much time in the office. Joy of joys.

I knock on the door, and it opens. Magic. All the wonders we have discovered to use it for, and yet here in the Ministry, it's used for opening doors. Un-believable.

I walk in, and the first thing that hits me is the size of the place. Its massive. Well, I say massive, but its just large. Large for an office. There is a double height window, with midnight blue curtains patterned with silver stars, and I cant help but relate them to a set of Professor Dumbledore's favourite robes. The desk is a dark polished mahogany, with spelled quills writing letters to various people, and in and out trays, for memos. Even though the in/out trays are overflowing with reports yearning to be either read or sent off, he still seems to keep the desk spotlessly clean, with everything in its proper place. I stand on the plush, royal purple carpet, in a square made out of patterned vines, and I watch as the man sat in the high-backed chair stood and welcomed me. He's a thin man, with a well groomed moustache, and the traditional Potter hairstyle, an untameable mess that no-one has ever managed to control, although I have to admit that instead of the (again, traditional) jet black hair, Father has escaped with nice deep brown hair. He has the most piercing silvery grey eyes, and his mouth quirks into a small smirk as he watches me take in his overly large office. After a few moments, I incline my head respectfully towards him, and I utter one word defiantly, almost spitting it out like the word has some sort of disease, at this point in time. I get on well with my father, but if he thinks that he can sit back and control every aspect of my life, I'm going to show him just how much like him I am. "Father." I raise my face to his, wondering what he will say to me, what he has planned, where I may or may not stay until I go back to Hogwarts. "Well son, you'll be glad to know I've found somewhere for you to stay" he starts, and my heart sinks deeper than I thought possible. "Until you either come of age, or the serial killer 'Lord Voldemort' is caught, you shall be staying with…" and now the butterflies, which have been strangely absent until now, are back in full force, my heart is racing, and I have a bead of sweat forming on my brow. Jeez, can he not get on with it already? The suspense could literally kill me here. And so he finished "…the Evans family. I have been informed that they have a daughter in your year and house, and they live in the Muggle world, so you should be safe there until you go back to Hogwarts for your seventh and final year in September." and now, with my heart beating again properly, and my mind doing laps of honour around the quidditch pitch, I jump up and at him, enveloping him in a bone-crushing hug. He couldn't have chosen a better person to put me with! "Thanks Father" I call back as I sprint out of his office. I see my father turn and shake his head amusedly out of the corner of my eye before the door closed again. Incredible. I was going to spend my summer with Lily Evans, the love of my life. My red haired, intellectual, happy go lucky goddess. I laugh aloud as I enter the atrium, resolving to tell Sirius all about it when I flooed home. Then I stop, sudden realisation clouding my mind. If I had to go and live with Lily, Sirius would have to come too, because Father wouldn't send me without Sirius now, _would_ he?


	2. The Potter Mansion

Chapter 1

The Potter Mansion

I floo home, dizziness and disorientation in abundance as always, to find Sirius (my best friend/surrogate brother) pacing the parlour floor. As the fire flares up around me, he spins on his heel. "Where the hell have you been?" is growled tensely at me. "I have been sat here, waiting for HOURS, (it hasn't really been hours, more half an hour, but hey, I'll let it slide) just so YOU can get back and tell me WHERE WE ARE GOING TO STAY!" I glance around, careful to keep my secret between as few people as possible, run my hand nervously through my hair, and whisper to him, "Evans' house."

"WHAT?" Sirius practically exploded. And I mean, exploded. He went red, just like a beetroot, and almost burst my eardrums with the "Sirius, shut _up_!" exclaimed Mother, who had just entered, leaning on the walls for support. She never did recover from that mission. Damn Death Eaters. Mother was an Auror. A damn good one too, if I say so myself. "Sirius, if you keep on shouting, I'll silence you myself, and I swear, it wont be pretty!" "Yes mum…" replies Sirius bashfully. You could see it in her eyes, every time he called her mum, she softened. For a moment. Then she gestured to the nearby sofa, quietly asking "Can you two sit down for a few moments please?" We sit. She slumps into the armchair across from us. Suddenly, she seems older, more tired. She starts to shiver, and again my nervous habit kicks in as I start to worry. "Mum, are you feeling okay? Do you need a blanket, a warm drink maybe?" The words force themselves past the large lump in my throat. "Son, would you like to know the reason why your father spends so much time in the office?"

"Mum, is it that obvious?" "Oh yes son, it is. Well…" "Why is it hard to talk about, Mother?" "Well boys…" she starts, and I sense Sirius raising his head, looking straight at her from beside me. "I'm just going to say this, boys. It's easier that way. Truth is, I'm dying. From what the Healers have told me, I'll be dead before you go back to Hogwarts in a few weeks." She sounded so sincere. I was dumbstruck. Sirius found his voice first, and though he seemed strong, I could tell. He was scared. "What do you mean, dead?" his voice wavered, threatening to break. "Sirius, I'm so sorry. Truly I am. But you, James, and James' father, are going to have to bury me. James?" I look up. looking her straight in the eyes. "Yes Mother?" "Your father and I have made all the arrangements. All you and Sirius need to do is turn up looking smart. That's all I can ask of you now."

I can feel the tears rolling down my face, and I silently search her eyes, her face, for a sign, any sign, that this is a wind-up, revenge for the pranks of the marauders over the years, a large 'surprise!' that's suddenly going to jump out, that Father would walk in and announce something, anything. News of them splitting up. would be more welcome now than THIS. But no, there was nothing. No sign of any surprises. All I can find is the truth. And I cant help but blame myself. How did I miss this, how did I miss my own mothers illness, I should have noticed, been more prepared for any news she could possibly give me. "Your father… Your father is staying in the office so much because he doesn't want to face this. He doesn't want to accept that I'm dying. He doesn't even want me to tell you. But I cant face you finding out when it's too late for me to explain, and try to help you come to terms with this." "What is it? What's wrong with you?" The voice comes from my side, echoes around the room, makes me want to run, hide, shout until people admit the joke, this sick, sick joke.

"It's a cancer. It's corrupted my magic. My MAGIC is what's killing me, slowly but surely." Her voice wavers, a sure sign she's close to tears, and it's at this point I leave. I just get up and walk out. Without warning. Sirius's voice seems to haunts me as I open the door, walk out of the house, not even sure where I'm going. "Mum, just leave him for now. He needs time to cool down, process everything. He needs to accept things, and he'll come back when he's ready."


	3. The Forest of Dean

Chapter 2

The Park, And The Beauty It Contains

I spin to the left, feeling the familiar squeeze before I disappear with a pop. I reappear a short walk from the bench I use to sort my thoughts when it all gets too much, a bench deep in the Forest of Dean. I sit there for who knows how long, trying to get my head round this massive, massive concept, trying to accept that in just a few short weeks, my mother will be dead. This is madness. I'm crazy. I'm in a coma. My mothers not dying, she's waiting for me to wake up. No matter what I try, I can't shake this fact, that this is real, and that I have to say goodbye.

I look up. Someone's watching me. I stand up, scanning the area. Nothing. Then, movement. A flash of red, and gone. Its just a red squirrel. I hear a scream, and start running. I could do with a fight, something to help clear my head. I run into a clearing, and who else would it be, but Lily and_ Snivellus. _I hesitate. They're struggling, in the middle of a clearing, in the Forest of Dean. I laugh out loud, a cruel bitter sound, and run at Snivellus, intending to rip him limb from limb if he hurt Lily. Tackling Snivellus, I pin him down and hit him, again and again, harder and harder and HARDER until I'm stopped, a hand gently resting on my arm, a timid voice almost in the distance, saying to me "James, please, don't. Not because of me. He's not worth it." I shake the hand off, and, standing up, I throw the now unconscious boy in front of me over my shoulder before disappearing with a pop.

I wink into existence at a lake I found once when I was younger, camping with my parents… No, wait, don't think of them, not yet, idiot. Too soon. But yes, a lake I found when I was younger. And so, being the considerate person I am, I then drop him in the cold lapping waves of this particular lake. He wakes, and as soon as he splutters I drag him onto the pebbles that form the shore, hold him down, and in the most chilling voice I can muster warn him:-

"Snivellus, let me be clear. You _will_ leave Lily alone, or I will find it within my heart to drop you from a building and leave you there. She is _not_ a plaything, so your contact with her will be kept to the bare minimum possible. _Comprende?"_

He musters a nod. Satisfied, I wander away, the knowledge that I must soon face my mother still haunting my thoughts…


End file.
